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This here's the story of Cassius Clay Black Superman-Muhammad Ali |
At least SOMEONE's bringing it up. Thank God.
What do you think?
"One cannot but ponder the question: What if the Arabs had been Christians? To me it seems certain that the fatalistic teachings of Mohammed and the utter degradation of women is the outstanding cause for the arrested development of the Arab. He is exactly as he was around the year 700, while we have kept on developing. Here, I think, is some text for an eloquent sermon on the virtues of Christianity."
-- War As I Knew It, General George S. Patton, Jr.
Posted on 10/18/2003 10:36 AM EDT by Brian S
JOHN SOLOMON, Associated Press Writer Saturday, October 18, 2003
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(10-18) 06:38 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --
In a move that has raised the eyebrows of U.S. investigators, Saudi Arabia has doled out hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide lawyers and cover bail for Saudis detained or questioned in the United States during the crackdown on terrorism.
The Saudi government acknowledged concerns by the Justice Department and FBI, but said it was essential that Saudi citizens who are unfamiliar with the American legal system be provided with good lawyers to defend themselves.
"Our view is give them lawyers and let the process take its course, and if they are found guilty of crimes they will pay their price and would have had fair representation. If not, they should be released," said Adel al-Jubeir, Crown Prince Abdullah's foreign policy adviser.
John Pistole, assistant director of the FBI's counterterrorism division, told a Senate hearing recently that the bureau has raised concerns with the Saudi government that paying legal bills and bond for Saudis being questioned in the terror probe could influence their testimony.
"To us, that is tantamount to buying off a witness, if you will. So that gives us concern if the government is supplying money for defense counsel," Pistole said.
The United States does not provide its citizens with lawyers and bail money when they are detained in foreign countries, although U.S. embassies often will intervene to ensure they are treated fairly.
Immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001, suicide attacks, U.S. law enforcement focused heavily on Saudis after learning 16 of the 19 hijackers were from the kingdom.
Saudi officials say several hundred of their citizens were detained in the weeks immediately after Sept. 11 on immigration violations or terrorism suspicions, but the number detained today has dwindled to around a dozen.
A recent Justice Department investigation concluded that many immigrants rounded up after the terror attacks were improperly detained for unnecessarily long periods of time and some endured mental or physical abuse during detention. A small number of Saudis have been charged with crimes.
The Saudis also are paying for lawyers for any citizens who are detained or questioned by the FBI and are sometimes providing counsel to students as they apply, renew or comply with their visas to ensure they don't get in trouble. Saudi-paid lawyers have sat in on hundreds of interviews by FBI and immigration agents.
The U.S. lawyer hired by the Saudi Embassy to coordinate the hiring of attorneys across the country for Saudi citizens said she is mystified by the criticism.
"I am fascinated that the FBI is unhappy with it. Isn't the right to counsel a bedrock of the American court system?" asked Malea Kiblan, an immigration attorney who is lead counsel for the Saudis on immigration cases.
Kiblan said she has arranged attorneys for hundreds of Saudis who have been detained on visa violations or simply been instructed by immigration agents to sit down and be interviewed.
When University of Idaho graduate student Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, a Saudi, was arrested earlier this year on federal charges accusing him of links to Islamic radicals, immigration and FBI officials rounded up Saudi and Muslim students in Idaho for questioning, she said.
"The agents were flown in on a military air transport plane," Kiblan said. Al-Hussayen as well as all the students interviewed during the sweep were provided lawyers paid by the Saudi Embassy, she said.
In some instances, Kiblan said, the Saudi government also has paid for bail or bond so Saudis could be released from detention, and is providing some attorneys to assist with visa renewals or interviews.
"In the end, such help benefits the United States as well by ensuring they stay within the law," Kiblan said.
She said that in recent months there have been renewed immigration sweeps that have temporarily detained Saudi students in such places as Florida and Michigan. Many of the students were caught off guard when they were picked up by FBI or immigration agents, she said.
"Many of these students are being debriefed multiple times by the FBI, and it has been a very traumatic experience," Kiblan said.
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This here's the story of Cassius Clay Black Superman-Muhammad Ali |
Posted on 10/18/2003 1:48 PM EDT by wheelgunguru
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Four U.S. military police, including a commanding officer, and two Iraqi policemen, were killed in two separate incidents Friday.
The latest deaths bring the number of U.S. troops killed in hostile fire since President Bush declared an end to major combat to 101.
Among those killed in a 12-hour gunfight in the holy city of Karbala was the 43-year-old commanding officer of the 716th Military Police Battalion, 101st Airborne Division.
Two other U.S. military police officers and two Iraqi policemen died in the firefight after attempting to negotiate with armed men congregated near a mosque after curfew. Twelve members of the joint patrol -- seven Americans and five Iraqis -- were wounded. (Gallery: Clash in Karbala)
Tensions have been high in Karbala where there is a power struggle among rival Shiite factions.
Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr last week announced he was forming an Islamic state in Iraq, calling for "peaceful demonstrations" by those who agree. After little showing of support, he later withdrew his proposal.
On Friday, speaking in Al Kufa, near Najaf, Sadr accused the United States of stirring dissent in Karbala.
"America seeks to apply the feature of terrorism on me in particular, especially after the declaration of the new state, to mar the reputation of this line in general and to be able to arrest me legally," he said. "Therefore it sowed dissent in Karbala and some other cities."
U.S. Maj. Ralph Manos said Friday that between 20 and 30 Iraqis attacked the Iraq-U.S. joint force when they tried to disarm an unknown, armed faction that had established itself near a mosque in the holy Shiite city.
He said the force was on routine patrol in Karbala, about 55 miles (88 kilometers) south of the Iraqi capital, when the gunfight broke out.
The other solider killed, from the U.S. Army's 220th Military Police Brigade, was caught by the blast of an improvised explosive device, which wounded two more soldiers. U.S. Central Command said the device detonated at 7:50 a.m. (12:50 a.m. EDT) Friday.
Since the Iraq war began in March, 336 U.S. troops have been killed, including 216 in hostile fire. Since Bush's declaration of the end of major combat May 1, 197 U.S. troops have died -- 101 in hostile fire.
There is no reliable source for Iraqi civilian or combatant casualty figures, either during the period of major combat or after May 1. The Associated Press reported an estimated 3,240 civilian Iraqi deaths between March 20 and April 20, but the AP reported that the figure was based on records of only half of Iraq's hospitals and the actual number was thought to be significantly higher.
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(10-19) 08:24 PDT AMMAN, Jordan (AP) -- A suspected Islamic militant confessed Sunday to being part of a conspiracy to attack Americans in Jordan, as well as the U.S. Embassy and Jordanian bases where the plotters believed U.S. troops were stationed. Zuhair Shdeifat, 26, told the military court where he and nine other Jordanian militants are on trial that the plotters stockpiled grenades and rockets and raised funds last year "to defend Jordan's soil." Shdeifat did not elaborate, but said another of the defendants, Amer Sarraj, 34, had wanted "us to carry out jihad (holy war) in Jordan by attacking American military bases in Jordan." Unlike the other nine defendants, Shdeifat has pleaded guilty to conspiring to carry out terrorist attacks and possessing arms and explosives with the intent of using them illegally. The offenses are punishable by death. It was unclear whether the military prosecution would seek a lighter sentence for Shdeifat for pleading guilty. Shdeifat was arrested Jan. 27, but freed eight days later in an apparent deal to turn him into a prosecution witness. Three Saudi men charged in the plot remain at large. Military prosecutor Lt. Col. Mahmoud Obeidat accused the Jordanians of receiving funds from Saudi Arabia via two of the Saudi fugitives. The investigation has not uncovered a strong link between the conspiracy and the al-Qaida terror group, security officials said on condition of anonymity. Obeidat's 13-page indictment sheet accused a schoolteacher, Faisal Khalidi, 30, of masterminding the Jordanian side of the plot. Standing the dock in smart casual clothes -- while his co-defendants wore dark blue prison uniforms -- Shdeifat said Sunday that he, Khalidi and two associates had allegedly devised plans to go to Afghanistan to fight American troops pursuing al-Qaida members. When the plotters realized it was too difficult to enter Afghanistan, they changed plans and decided to attack U.S. targets in Jordan, Shdeifat said, confirming information in the indictment sheet. Shdeifat said he and seven other conspirators in detention had bought 20 grenades and a rocket from Iraq to use in the attacks. Obeidat's indictment says the militants chose to attack the U.S. Embassy in Amman and the military bases of Yajouz, Azraq, Jafr and al-Safawi -- desert towns along a 248-mile highway from Amman to the Iraqi border. When they selected these bases in early 2002, the government denied there were any U.S. troops in Jordan. Weeks before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq began in March, Jordan said it had allowed several hundred American soldiers to operate an air-defense system to protect the country from possible Iraqi missiles. Jordan, a moderate Arab nation with close ties to America and a peace treaty with Israel, has been targeted by terrorists several times in recent years. Twenty-two extremists were convicted of plotting to attack U.S. and Israeli tourists during the kingdom's millennium celebrations. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/10/19/international1124EDT0465.DTL |
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